


A Minor Misunderstanding

by samariumwriting



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Background Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Ashe Duran | Ashe Ubert, Dancing, Fluff and Humor, Gen, M/M, Masquerade, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-25 04:47:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30083679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samariumwriting/pseuds/samariumwriting
Summary: "Dedue watched as the young man, whoever he was, approached Dimitri for a second dance. From a distance, he watched as the man bowed, dipping to kiss Dimitri's knuckles. Dimitri, without more than a moment of hesitation, offered him a hand and moved towards the dance floor once more."-There's a masquerade ball in Fhirdiad, and Dedue and Felix are determined to work together to ensure that Dimitri is never in harm's way. It doesn't quite go to plan.
Relationships: Felix Hugo Fraldarius & Dedue Molinaro
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	A Minor Misunderstanding

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was written for the "Lost Ballroom of Gold" zine, a masquerade rarepair 3H zine! This is also my 100th published 3h fic so that's a thing

"So, are we agreed?" Dedue asked, his eyes fixed firmly on the stream of guests entering the ballroom. Each one wore a lavish outfit, and all disguised their face with a mask. There were some still identifiable and many who couldn't hide if they tried (and plenty who didn't wish to), but it still set him on edge.

Next to him, Felix wore a raven mask. Even without looking at him, Dedue knew he, too, surveyed the crowd. "Of course," Felix said. At the same moment, their twin gazes found Dimitri. Try as he might, the King couldn't hide who he was - he was too tall, his shoulders too broad, and his hair shone in the candlelight. "We watch him."

Dimitri's head turned towards them, and Dedue watched as his shoulders shook with mirth. Of course; he'd told them both (or at least, he imagined Felix had received the same lecture) that they were meant to enjoy themselves at the ball. The war was five years in the past now, and that was a cause for celebration, not caution.

Dimitri told Dedue that he would be fine without any extra attention from the pair of them. Neither agreed. "We do," Dedue replied, and then he moved off to the other side of the room. It was better to have more than one vantage point, and he could trust Felix to stay on task.

In truth, it wasn’t difficult to stay focused on Dimitri - he glowed a little like a beacon in the low light of the ballroom, and his height tended to put him at least a little above the general level of the crowd. He danced with everyone who asked, and most of the time Dedue knew who it was. When he didn't, he'd meet Felix's eyes across the room and one of them would skirt around the edges of the tables so they could reconvene.

"The one with the owl mask is Annette," Felix confirmed. "I spoke to her earlier."

"The mouse mask was Flayn, I believe." Felix paused for a moment at Dedue’s words, then nodded. "The others were nobles I recognised. The Kleiman third daughter, and the son of Bergliez's governor."

"No, the one in the feathered mask wasn't the governor's son," Felix said, and while Dedue could not see his frown, he could hear it. "I thought it was, but then he accosted me for a dance; he's wearing the wyvern mask."

"I see," Dedue replied. "I thought..." The governors of the Empire's territories lacked the kind of resources that many of the old nobles of Faerghus had. The short young man who danced with Dimitri wore inexpensive - though not shabby - finery, so he'd assumed.

"So we don't know who that was." Felix's hand rose to cup his chin, his voice thoughtful. "Oh- there he is again."

Dedue watched as the young man, whoever he was, approached Dimitri for a second dance. From a distance, he watched as the man bowed, dipping to kiss Dimitri's knuckles. Dimitri, without more than a moment of hesitation, offered him a hand and moved towards the dance floor once more.

He watched, eyes slightly narrowed, as they whirled around the floor together. Whoever this was, he did not know his way around a ballroom - his movements were slightly disjointed, and he stumbled over Dimitri's feet more than once. Dimitri, in turn, was a fantastic dancer and had been for as long as Dedue had known him. He practically carried the man along as they danced.

When the song came to a close, Felix stepped forwards in the hope of intercepting the man to find who he was. Yet, as soon as the final notes faded into the bubble of the crowd's conversation, Dimitri offered the man a hand once more. And then again.

"Who  _ is  _ this?" Felix asked, suspicion leaking into every note of his voice. They watched as Dimitri danced with the stranger again, his posture light and easy. It was completely unlike watching him dance with the Kleiman woman.

"I don't know." Dedue watched carefully as Dimitri bowed to his mysterious dance partner and they finally parted ways. "I will ask Dimitri. You try and talk to our other friend there."

Felix nodded, setting off through the crowd immediately. Dedue, in turn, set his sights on Dimitri.

The man smiled when he approached; Dedue couldn’t see it, but he could hear it the moment he opened his mouth to speak. "Dedue! I haven't seen you dance yet."

Dedue pulled a face, though he knew Dimitri couldn't see it. "I will dance later," he conceded. Hopefully he would get the chance to, if he could just work out who this person was. "But I wished to ask you something first."

"Of course," Dimitri said. "Is something the matter?"

"In a manner of speaking," Dedue admitted. "You have been dancing with someone whose identity I could not pinpoint. A few times, in fact. I was... concerned."

"Dedue." The disappointment in Dimitri's voice was palpable, but Dedue didn't feel too bad. He was just looking out for him, whether Dimitri wanted it or not. "Are you saying you're concerned about the man I danced with four times tonight?"

Dedue nodded, expecting Dimitri's reaction to be one of even greater disappointment. Instead, he tipped back his head in laughter. "Oh, there's no need to worry about that!" he said. "I can assure you, there is absolutely no cause for concern. Please, go back to enjoying the ball. You do not need to worry on my account."

Despite his words, Dedue couldn't help but worry. While the man's steps on the dance floor were far less than graceful, his movements through the crowd were anything but. He caught sight of the man moving through a throng of people, subtly pursued by Felix. The mysterious masked figure held the poise of a fighter, and that only worried him more.

When he fed back the results of his conversation with Dimitri to Felix, Dedue didn't have to be able to see Felix's brows to know the exact angle they were furrowed at. "We should just confront him," he suggested. "He keeps dancing with Dimitri, and he has plenty of other people he should probably dance with tonight. There must be some motive."

They weren't meant to carry weapons at events like this one - not after Felix's most recent national incident. But Dedue knew he still carried a knife, and his hand twitched concerningly close to where he concealed it. "I do not think that would be a good idea," he said. "We will have to try something else."

Felix shifted uneasily. "What do you mean, something else?" he asked. His tone was wary, and perhaps rightfully so, because there was only one other thing Dedue could think to do.

He bowed to Felix, ignoring the returning startled noise, and smiled. "Duke Fraldarius," he said, "may I have this dance?"

Felix gritted his teeth. "Are you-" Dedue nodded. "Fine. Fucking- fine, okay, yes. I'll dance, but if you're leading you  _ better  _ get us close enough to hear them."

"Of course," Dedue replied, watching with mild amusement as Felix dipped into his own abrupt bow. He was absolutely hopeless at this; worse than Dedue, perhaps.

He took Felix's hand in his and led him to the dance floor, starting their dance with slow, even steps that took him far away from Felix's feet. Felix had a certain grace, yes, but that didn't mean he liked what they were doing here. Dedue didn't know if he entirely trusted him not to step on his toes once or twice out of pure spite.

He made a solid attempt to get closer to Dimitri, who was dancing with the same individual once again. It was difficult, with all the bodies moving around them, but Dimitri was tall and so was Dedue; it was easy to spot the former in a crowd, and easy for the latter to cut a path towards him.

The only problem was that, when he got close enough to potentially overhear the words being spoken, they were...

"The hawk went after the herbs after that," a familiar voice said, but Dedue still couldn't pinpoint who it was. "And then the owl- well, it was pretty funny, actually! She had no idea that the hawk enjoyed the singing, and thought he merely came to make her his prey."

Dimitri let out a peal of laughter. Dimitri, who often found it so difficult to enjoy himself at events like these. Even if Dedue couldn't work out who he was talking to, beyond the fact that it  _ was  _ someone he knew, he was glad that Dimitri was enjoying himself.

It was just a shame that he couldn't work out what they were saying - they were speaking in some kind of code, which either meant that they knew that they were being listened to, or they were talking about something dangerous. Dedue hoped it was the former, but feared the latter enough to try and keep himself and Felix close to the couple's steps.

But the dance ended soon enough, and Dimitri and the mysterious not-stranger swept away. Completely out of ideas and only just managing to restrain Felix from threatening a stabbing, Dedue kept his eyes firmly on the stranger or Dimitri at all points for the rest of the evening. The ball felt very, very long when trying to track both of their movements.

Dedue knew that Dimitri had asked him to enjoy the ball, but it was difficult when he couldn't identify who they were dealing with here. He was never, ever going to let that council of nobles approve a masquerade ball again - he'd get Felix to use his veto if he had to. It wasn't worth the stress.

It only got worse when, just as the ball was starting to wind down, Dimitri and the stranger vanished entirely. They were there one moment, chatting over a drink, but then a group of dancers moved in front of him, and in the moment Dedue couldn't see, they disappeared.

Felix materialised at his side almost instantly. "I'm going to go find them," he said. "They definitely went outside, and there are only a few exits. But no one will be out there, which means-"

Dedue thought of Dimitri's laugh, his dismissal of Dedue’s fears, and all the dances he'd shared with the masked figure. He made a decision. "It means that they want some privacy," he said.

Felix made a disappointed noise. "You're saying to leave them? While he gets exactly the privacy that would let him  _ stab  _ Dimitri?"

"Lower your voice," Dedue said, glancing around for a moment. No one seemed to be listening, but they couldn't be too careful. "Dimitri is perfectly capable of protecting himself, and if we were to interrupt them... we could be interrupting a private moment."

Felix huffed. He tucked a strand of hair, coming loose from his elaborate hairstyle for the night, behind his ear; he was embarrassed. "If he gets injured, it's on you," he grumbled.

"Agreed," Dedue said, a small smile sneaking onto his face. He was confident it wouldn't be the case, and then he'd have another tale to tell everyone about Felix’s antics. "Perhaps we should enjoy what remains of the evening."

Felix threw back his head and laughed. "If you insist," he said, "then how about another dance?"

Most of the guests had filtered out by the time a now unmasked Dimitri reappeared, his hair a little ruffled. He caught Dedue's gaze almost immediately, a soft smile forming on his lips. Moments later, his mysteriously familiar companion appeared, and Dedue knew that perhaps Felix wouldn't be the only one getting teased in the future for today’s misunderstandings.

Emerging from behind Dimitri was Ashe, the evening's suit a little rumpled and his mask held daintily in one hand. Despite how cold it was outside, his face was flushed, and Dedue knew his instinct to leave them was right.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed, a comment/kudos is super appreciated
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/samariumwriting)


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